Waymark
City walk Tochigi — Nikkō, Japan

Nikkō: Shrines of the Shogun and the Kegon Falls

A day pairing Japan's most ornate shrine complex — Ieyasu's mausoleum, the sleeping cat, the three wise monkeys — with a climb into the mountains to a 97-metre waterfall and a crater lake.

Nikkō: Shrines of the Shogun and the Kegon Falls
Photo: Jpatokal · CC BY-SA 4.0
Duration
1 day
Distance
4 km
Walking time (est.)
1 h 45 min
Difficulty
Moderate
Best season
Late April–May (fresh green, mountain roads open) and October–early November (autumn colour); winter closes or ices much of the Chūzenji road

Walking

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    Getting there and back

    Start
    Shinkyō bridge
    Finish
    Lake Chūzenji

    One-way: plan your trip back

    Directions to the start Back from the finish

    Season events near this route

    Nikkō is a city in Tochigi Prefecture where a cedar-shaded hillside holds the most lavishly carved religious buildings in Japan. The Tokugawa shoguns buried their founder here and spared nothing doing it, and the shrines are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    The day has two halves. The morning is a compact walk of about 3 km through the shrine precinct — short in distance, long in stairs, and worth taking slowly. The afternoon climbs by bus into the mountains above town to Kegon Falls and Lake Chūzenji, which sit high enough to have their own weather.

    Getting there. From Tokyo, the Tobu Railway from Asakusa is the usual approach: limited express trains take about two hours, ordinary services closer to two and a half or three. From Nikkō station, buses run up to the shrine area, and a separate bus climbs the hairpin Irohazaka road to Chūzenji.

    Permits & tickets. No permit needed. Most sites charge separately — Tōshō-gū, Rinnō-ji (a combined ticket covers the temple and its garden), Futarasan, crossing the Shinkyō bridge, and the elevator down to the foot of Kegon Falls. Walking the precinct itself is free.

    Good to know:

    Elevation profile

    Highest point
    1282 m Day 1
    Lowest point
    598 m Day 1
    Total descent
    574 m

    Point at the profile, or focus it and use the arrow keys, to see that spot on the map.

    Terrain heights along a straight line between each day’s stops, not along the footpath, so a pass or a switchback the path takes can be missing. Descent and walking times use the same line.

    Elevation data: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen, AWS Open Data)

    Day by day

    DayDistanceAscentDescent (est.)Walking time (est.)
    Day 1 Hardest dayThe shrine precinct, then up to the lake
    Distance4 kmAscentNot recordedDescent (est.)574 mWalking time (est.)1 h 45 min

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    Day 1

    The shrine precinct, then up to the lake

    Shinkyō bridge → Lake Chūzenji 4 km 1 h 45 min
    Navigate this day

    From a lacquered bridge at the river, up through temple and shrine grounds under old cedars, then a climb by road to a waterfall and the lake that feeds it.

    Drinking water

    No public drinking water mapped near this walk’s stops.

    Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Segments

    1. Shinkyō bridge 0.6 km Map

      Nikkō station bus stop → Shinkyō bridge

      Town road and riverside

      The vermilion "sacred bridge" arcs over the Daiya River and marks the boundary between the town and the shrine precinct. In feudal times only the shogun was permitted to cross it; today a small fee buys you the walk across, though the view from the bank is free.

    2. Rinnō-ji
      Rinnō-ji 0.5 km Map

      Shinkyō bridge → Rinnō-ji

      Stone steps and temple approach

      A Tendai Buddhist temple whose founding is credited to Shōdō Shōnin, the monk who brought Buddhism to Nikkō in the 8th century. Its main hall holds three large gilded Buddha figures, and the Shōyō-en garden beside it is usually far quieter than the shrines uphill.

      About this place

      Rinnō-ji (輪王寺) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
    3. Nikkō Tōshō-gū
      Nikkō Tōshō-gū 0.6 km Map

      Rinnō-ji → Nikkō Tōshō-gū

      Cedar avenue and long stone stairways

      The mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the shogunate, and the most extravagantly decorated shrine in the country. The Yōmeimon gate alone carries some four hundred carvings. Look for the small sleeping cat, the nemuri-neko, above a side corridor, and the three wise monkeys on the sacred stable. A long flight of steps behind the shrine climbs to Ieyasu's tomb. Allow about two hours.

      About this place

      Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
    4. Futarasan shrine
      Futarasan shrine 0.4 km Map

      Nikkō Tōshō-gū → Futarasan shrine

      Forest path between precincts

      Older and much plainer than its neighbour, Futarasan dates back to 782, and its existing main structure — built in 1617 — is the oldest building in Nikkō. The shrine is bound up with the mountains north of town, including Nantai, and its main festival runs each April.

      About this place

      Futarasan jinja (二荒山神社) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is also known as Nikkō Futarasan Shrine, to distinguish it from the Utsunomiya Futarayama Jinja, which shares the same kanji in its name. Both shrines claim the title of ichinomiya of the former Shimotsuke Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually from April 13 to April 17.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Fg2 assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain
    5. Kegon Falls
      Kegon Falls 0.8 km Map

      Nikkō shrine area → Kegon Falls observation deck

      Bus ride, then paved deck paths

      Take the bus up the hairpin Irohazaka road into Nikkō National Park. Kegon is reckoned one of Japan's three great waterfalls: the main drop is about 97 metres, with roughly a dozen smaller falls leaking through cracks between the mountain and the old lava flows behind it. A paid elevator drops to a lower deck at the plunge pool.

      About this place

      Kegon Falls is located at Lake Chūzenji in Nikkō National Park near the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The falls were formed when the Daiya River was rerouted by lava flows. The main falls had a height of approximately 97 metres (318 ft) and about twelve smaller waterfalls are situated behind and to the sides of Kegon Falls, leaking through the many cracks between the mountain and the lava flows.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Uraomote yamaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0
    6. Lake Chūzenji
      Lake Chūzenji 1.1 km Map

      Kegon Falls → Chūzenji lakeshore

      Lakeside promenade

      The lake that feeds the falls, formed about twenty thousand years ago when an eruption of Mount Nantai dammed the river. Sightseeing boats cross it in season. It sits high in the mountains and is markedly colder than the town below — the reason the shoreline empties out in winter.

      About this place

      Lake Chūzenji , also called Sea of Happiness, is a scenic lake in Nikkō National Park in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It was created 20,000 years ago when Mount Nantai (2484 m) erupted and blocked the river.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Uraomote yamaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0

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